The City of Windsor is going to host another sporting event.
Mayor Drew Dilkens announced Tuesday morning that the city’s bid to host the 2022 Can-Am Police-Fire Games was successful.
The Can-Am Police-Fire Games is a multi-sport event hosted every two years in either Canada or the United States.
“We’re thrilled to be setting up another signature event for our city and region,” said Mayor Dilkens.
It is a six day event with traditional sports such as soft-ball, swimming and track and field to more specified events such as SWAT competitions.
The games attract on average 1,000 police, firefighters and other first responders from across Canada and the United States.
Police Chief Al Frederick, Fire Chief Stephen Laforet, along with Sports Tourism Officer Samantha Magalas and officials from Tourism Windsor Essex Pelee Island all took part in the pitch.
Magalas told CTV Windsor last month the event has a track record for generating economic benefits.
"The economic impact is estimated at between $5 to 10 million, and that's directly from the CAN AM police fire federation,” said Magalas.
“Hotels and restaurants will be busy, and we’ll see some excellent athletes compete in a host of sports.” Added Dilkens.
The city of Windsor will be on the hook for $580,000 to host the games.
“We are very excited to bring the games to Windsor which has a strong reputation for hosting successful multi-sport events and has first class sporting venues,” said Bill Merrylees, who is the President and CEO of the Games Board of Directors.
“We were very impressed during the last 12 months on all of the planning and preparation done by the Sport Tourism Office and the support given by Mayor Drew Dilkens. Some cities will give us their top 10 reasons why we should award them the games Windsor gave us 125 reasons why. We were impressed,” said Merrylees.
While Windsor prepares for the 2022 event, the 2018 and 2020 Games will both be hosted at Lake of the Ozarks, Missouri.
